I generally am no-fan of Sumiko Tan, but her article, “You are what you eat” caught my attention. She talked about how she eats sharksfins when served because she feels it’s being respectful to the host, who has served her a dish that is traditionally a delicacy.
At first, I really liked the article and was going “Yes!” because as someone who indeed eats sharksfins when served (and enjoy it too), I was glad to see someone “defend” my stand in the midst of the growing bad press surrounding sharksfins. However, as I read on, I found myself agreeing with certain points she made, about how what we eat (or do not) is a personal choice-
“We are ultimately what we eat, or don’t eat, and we live with our conscience. What gets my goat is when ethical consumers adopt a holier-than-thou attitude and hector anyone who is not like them.”
While she was speaking of people who boycott sharksfins, it also made me realize I have been quite “holier-than-thou myself” and perhaps a bit disrespectful to the choices others have made.
Every wedding dinner never fails to involve a discussion about how “terrible” it is to eat sharksfins and it irritates me a fair bit, because I have my own reasons for eating them anyway, and I just want to eat in peace. There have been occasions when I have felt disrespected or “attacked” more than I find necessary. But reading Sumiko’s article made me realize that over time and repeated confrontations by shark lovers, I have become quite opinionated about people who boycott sharksfins, and occasionally pass sacarstic remarks, which really, is no different than how I (used to) feel that some shark lovers have such lofty attitudes…it’s just not very respectful and pretty stuck up of me.
Therefore, if you have been the victim of my mildly militant attitude about this issue, I am really sorry (sincerely, this is not another caustic remark). Its not very nice of me at all and my attitude has changed.
Anyway, despite the talk about how cruelly the sharks are treated and how the killing of sharks will destroy the environment, here is why I STILL eat sharksfins and am not proud of it, but also not ashamed of it.
1. Firstly, I chose to adopt the halfway stance about not ordering it when given a choice (because it’s the least I could do), but eating them when they are already served. It’s my personal choice and also my way of saying that I do not see why we should feel more strongly about the killing of sharks than other animals, but I could certainly cut down on the amount I eat.
2. I really believe that since the sharks have been killed and it’s there, I might as well just eat it.
3. I know, there is a very valid argument that if we all choose not to eat that bowl of sharksfins, people will stop serving them. This brings me to my point about how I do not feel strongly enough about the issue. I acknowledge the concerns surrounding the controversy, but I also do not see how it is a different kind of cruelty as compared to other animals we kill to eat- e.g Kobe beef being deliberately fattened to make their meat nicer, chickens being forced to lay eggs in man made environment, cows being hung, crabs being cooked alive etc. I know I know, sharks are not farmed an all, but the line between “ethical consumption and unethical consumption” is very thin. To me, The only way I can make a sincere stance against cruelty towards animals we consume is to not consume any meat at all. Am I ready to do that? Unfortunately not. Meanwhile, whatever I do is half baked and my half baked way is to try to eat less. (this is my own view, not a judgment against people who choose to boycott sharksfins altogether- a completely respectable decision given my latest realization that anyone is entitled to that.)
4. At the risk of sounding cold hearted, there are only so many causes I can support. Should I also be eating only fair trade products, boycotting coffee (omg is that even possible? Haha), stop wearing diamonds, not buy any product that I know was being produced by some underpaid factory worker in a developing nation?
I generally support causes/charities relating to child labour, education for children, equal rights for homosexuals, the elderly, the physically or mentally disabled and some environmental causes. Everyone is entitled to choose the things we want to stand for, and saving the sharks is just something I choose to adopt a fairly neutral stand about. I also usually donate money to charities dedicated to the disabled over the SPCA or some environmental cause- does that make mean I do not care about the animals or environment? No, it just means that I care about certain things more than others.
Will I decide to fully support the sharks one day? Maybe, maybe not, but it still remains true that I cannot stand for everything, and it will probably happen the day I finally become a vegetarian.
(By the way, I support most environmental causes and feel especially strongly about using less plastic bags, but I cannot really be a fully committed environmental evangelist since I work for an organization that leaves a rather high carbon footprint. Like the sharks issue, I can only “do my part” in some ways.)
So, here comes the million dollar question- am I serving sharksfins at my wedding dinner?
Yes, unfortunately. Should I be doing my part since I can choose to leave it out? Yes, but in this case, our parents some relatives, and some friends enjoy having sharksfins, and view it as an honored tradition. While I typically am not afraid to do away with some traditions, I just do not feel strongly enough about this and I choose to make the elders happy. Besides, that’s what I am paying for so I am having it.
Of course, anyone is entitled to discard the bowl of sharksfins served to them.
On a side note, since i ended up mentioning charities, I have been toying with the idea about asking people to give me red packets (just a small sum, ha!) on my birthday instead of gifts, so that I can make a donation to a good charity instead. Any ideas?
